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CHAP. 38.—THE SCINCUS.

Like the crocodile, but smaller even than the ichneumon, is
the scincus,1 which is also produced in the Nile, and the flesh of
which is the most effectual antidote against poisons, and acts as
a powerful aphrodisiac upon the male sex. But so great a pest
was the crocodile to prove, that Nature was not content with
giving it one enemy only; the dolphins, therefore, which enter
the Nile, have the back armed with a spine,2 which is edged
like a knife, as if for this very purpose; and although these
animals are much inferior in strength, they contrive to destroy the crocodile by artifice, which on the other hand attempts to drive them from their prey, and would reign alone
in its river as its peculiar domain. For all animals have an
especial instinct in this respect, and are able to know not
only what is for their own advantage, but also what is to the
disadvantage of their enemies; they fully understand the use
of their own weapons, they know their opportunity, and the
weak parts of those with which they have to contend.

The skin of the belly of the crocodile is soft and thin,
aware of this, the dolphins plunge into the water, as if in
great alarm, and diving beneath its belly, tear it open with
their spines. There is a race of men also, who are peculiarly
hostile to this animal; they are known as the Tentyritæ, from
an island in the Nile which they inhabit.3 These men are of
small stature, but of wonderful presence of mind, though for
this particular object only. The crocodile is a terrible animal
to those who fly from it, while at the same time it will fly
from those who pursue it; these, however, are the only people
who dare to attack it. They even swim in the river after it, and
mount its back like so many horsemen; and just as the animal
turns up its head for the purpose of biting them, they insert a
club into its mouth, holding which at each end, with the two
hands, it acts like a bit, and, by these means they drive the
captured animal on shore. They also terrify the crocodile so
much by their voice alone even, as to force it to disgorge
the bodies which it has lately swallowed, for the purpose of
burial. This island, therefore, is the only place near which the
crocodile never swims; indeed, it is repelled by the odour of
this race of men, just as serpents are by that of the Psylli.4 The
sight of this animal is said to be dull when it is in the water,
but, when out of the water, piercing in the extreme; it always
passes the four winter months in a cave, without taking food.5
Some persons say, that this is the only animal that continues
to increase in size as long as it lives; it is very long-lived.

1 There is a small lizard, called by the modern naturalists the Lacerta
scincus; but Cuvier conceives that this cannot be the animal here referred
to, because it is so very much smaller than the ichneumon, that no one
would have thought of comparing them; and, what seems a better reason,
because it is not found in the Nile. From the account of the scincus in
B. xxviii. c. 30, it is probable that the animal here referred to is a species
of monitor, popularly called the land crocodile. Herodotus, B. iv. c. 192,
speaks of the land crocodile as found in Libya; it is also mentioned by
Pausanias, Corinthiaca, c. 20, and by Prosper Alpinus, Ægypt. B. iv. c. 5.
—B. The scincus is probably the "Lacerta ouaran" of Cuvier.

2 Cuvier remarks, that this account cannot really apply to the dolphin,
because none of the cetacea possess the spines here described. He investigates the subject with his usual sagacity, and concludes, with much probability, that the animal here referred to was a squalus, the Squalus centrina, or spinax of Linnæus; Ajasson, vol. vi. pp. 443, 444; Lemaire, vol.
iii. pp. 422, 423. We have an account of the contest between the crocodile
and the dolphin in Seneca, Nat. Quæst. B. iv. c. 2.—B.

3 We have some account of the Tentyritæ in Ælian, Anim. Nat. B. x.
c. 21.—B. See B. xxviii. c. 6.

4 See B. vii. c. 2. The best description of the Psylli is that given by
Lucan in B. ix. 1. 892, et seq., where he describes the march of Cato's army
across the burning coasts of the Syrtes.

5 This, as Cuvier remarks, is the case with the crocodiles of North America, which, like other reptiles, become torpid during the cold season;
Ajasson, vol. vi. p. 444; Lemaire, vol. iii. p. 424.—B.

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